1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for transferring leadless components, in particular so-called chip-type components, from a carrier tape to a given mounting position on a circuit board, the components being supplied by the tape at regular intervals and a punch feeding each component via a feeding channel in a guiding bottom to a transfer slide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With a view to saving of construction material and to the larger rationalization as well as to the space-saving manner of arranging components on a circuit boards, components have been developed which can be directly soldered onto circuit boards. These components are extremely small and have for instance a width and a length of approximately 1.8 and 2.9 mm, while their height is chosen to be of the order of 0.5 mm. Such components, for example resistors or capacitors, have become known as "chips" in the technique of mounting electronic components.
These small electronic components are supplied by means of carrier tapes to the mounting apparatus. The carrier tapes consist of a tape portion provided with cavities which are spaced at regular intervals and which approximately correspond to the size of the largest component used. The components are disposed in the cavities and are held therein during the transport by means of upper and lower covering foils. In the mounting apparatus known from the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 235,802 filed Feb. 2, 1981, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,579, the components are then removed from the tape by means of a punch and are placed by means of a suction tube in the given mounting position on the circuit board.
However, it has been found that the exact mounting position can be attained only with difficulty and that mounting errors are of frequent occurrence. These mounting errors are mainly due on the one hand to the finding of the accurate mounting position and on the other hand to the relative position of the small component during its transfer. A very small rotation leads to positioning errors and hence at the same time to circuit errors, since in general the conductor pattern on the circuit board has an extraordinarily high density.